


Love On the Air

by toyhouses



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - College/University, Cliche, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-13 14:33:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21495844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toyhouses/pseuds/toyhouses
Summary: Written for Prompt 181.Mark ends up auditioning for an open DJ spot on his favorite night-time radio show with a little push from Donghyuck.  He has doubts whether he can pass the audition though because Mark may or may not have a crush on the DJ who helps him with his insomnia night after night.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Mark Lee
Comments: 2
Kudos: 55
Collections: NCT Rarepair





	Love On the Air

**Author's Note:**

> New to fandom, so I apologize if I've got any characterizations wrong!  
Thank you to the prompter - I fell in love the pairing and had to write this prompt!  
Thank you to the lovely mods who hosted this fest - Getting into NCT, I realized some of the pairs I was leaning towards were rare pairs! And so, this fest was a perfect place to get my chance at writing them for a prompt fest :)
> 
> P.S. There is supposed to be a part two, but I was not able to finish editing in time. :( I'll post that as soon as I can in the future ^^
> 
> Thanks in advance for reading!

“Today on Double Jay’s Midnight Madness, we’re giving away a five dollar gift card to Starbucks for the first place winner in submissions. Remember folks, we’re looking for the most hilarious, spectacular, moving, or poignant stories! The submission with the most votes on our Facebook, Instagram, and website poll gets the first place prize. Don’t forget to vote because one lucky voter will also get a Starbucks gift card!”

A familiar little jingle spills forth from the radio, signaling the beginning of Double Jay’s corner. Mark’s ears perk up. He’s been listening to this station since the first day of college and he hasn’t missed an episode yet. The stories are pretty good, some are funny and others are almost unbelievable. Some submissions have even made Mark cry into his pillow during the wee hours of the night. In a world of YouTube videos, podcasts, and Netflix, this nighttime radio show is surprisingly popular. 

But it’s not just the stories that make Mark such a devoted listener. He glances at the clock by his bed - the one he’s had for ages, the one in the shape of Will Smith. It’s nearly four in the morning and he’s still not falling asleep. Luckily, the story entries are starting and DJ Jae, the one with the soothing voice, comes on.

“Tonight - or should I say ‘this morning’ - on Jae’s Corner, we have an entry from username: ‘Full Sun’. But before we start, don’t forget to stay tuned until the end where we have a surprise announcement. Alright, onto the submission. User ‘Full Sun’ writes, my roommate always promises he’s going to watch a movie with me, but-”

  
  


The clock strikes 7 AM sending out a tinny sounding blast repeat of “Smell ya later!” from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Mark opens his eyes. His eyes are bloodshot and dry. He grabs his artificial tears on cue - a habit formed over years of waking up just like this.

  
  


It’s not quite a headache but there’s an annoying fuzzy sensation going on in his sleep deprived brain as he stumbles into the cafeteria. Mark blinks the grainy feeling away from his corneas, but it never truly dissipates. Mark looks at his watch. It reads 7:38 AM - just one hour from the last time he checked when he was in bed, NOT sleeping.

Mark groans as he slumps over on the cafeteria table, tossing an arm across his face. In less than twenty minutes, he needs to be acceptably perky and in class. He lets out a sigh as his friends join him noisily at the table.

“Did you listen to the radio last night?” 

Donghyuck ambushes him as usual, glomping at the poor sleep-deprived boy and almost squishing his face into his morning hash browns.

“Good morning” Mark says through grit teeth.

Why was Donghyuck nearly always so damn giddy? Donghyuck drapes an arm over Mark’s shoulder and grins into his ear. The self satisfied smirk is that loud.

“They read my entry! Did you hear?”

“Nuh” Mark replies. He’s not yet had his morning coffee.

“More importantly, did you hear the advert about the DJ position?” Donghyuck doesn’t forget to drum his palms on Mark’s back like a bongo drum.

“Donghyuck” Mark wheezes, “I swear to God-”

“You’re gonna audition” Donghyuck announces.

“Huh?”

“The radio spot. You’re it, babe. A shoo-in” There’s a nice greasy wink waiting for Mark at the end of the sentence.

“Radio?” 

“You must have fallen asleep before the announcement, but yeah, there’s an open spot! The other ‘J’ of the Double Jays is studying abroad next year so-”

And before Mark barely registers anything, he’s already in the broadcasting club’s room. He wraps his fingers around a hot cup of coffee, realizing belatedly that he’s currently two buildings away from the class he’s supposed to be in.but a familiar, sultry voice snaps him out of his choppy, insomniac haze.

“So, you’re here for the open DJ position?”

Mark looks up, eyes no doubt bloodshot from getting too little shut-eye. And what he sees are the two most gorgeous chocolate brown bedroom eyes he’s ever seen. Immediately, he has a three second fantasy about diving right into those warm chocolate pools of charismatic goodness, swimming in the sea of his love forever. The owner of said eyes also possesses a pale, porcelain skinned face that makes Mark gulp. 

Mark blushes because he feels guilty about that little fantasy of his immediately. But Donghyuck elbows him none too softy in the ribs and when he does, Mark’s eyes alight on the moist, pink lips on DJ Jay and all hell breaks loose in his befuddled brain. He’s skinny dipping in an ocean of melted chocolate, licking fudge off of DJ Jay’s body and-

“Guh” he says, shifting in his seat uncomfortably.

“Uh, yes, DJ Jay sunbaenim.” Donghyuck is used to this kind of nonfunctional behavior, so he takes the lead immediately. “ _ Mark  _ is here for the open position. He’s been a fan of this radio show since he entered the school!”

DJ Jay tosses a glance at Donghyuck, then back at the still-sputtering Mark.

“What are you? This guy’s puppet master?” he asks Donghyuck, jerking a thumb toward Mark.

A little wire in Mark’s brain says, “Danger! Danger!” but Mark can’t bring himself to properly speak, much less formulate words. A part of his brain still can’t let go of the fantasy in his mind. Donghyuck, on the other hand, doesn’t even bat an eyelash.

“Yes sir, I am. Only in the mornings because Mark’s kind of inoperable then.” Donghyuck winks again, bonking Mark affectionately on the top of his head. 

Mark wants to crawl into a hole to die of his secondhand embarrassment in solitude, but the deep, bedroom eyes come to focus on Mark once more and to make it worse, DJ Jay leans in.

“Well then” the man of Mark’s fantasy says. “Fill out this form and… well, you can call me Jaehyun.”

%%%

  
  
  
  


There are some nights - the few where he actually gets some semblance of sleep - where Mark dreams about his childhood days. He remembers the low soothing voice of a boy next door who was two grades above him. As they’d grown up together, the sixth grader had slowly changed from the boy next door into a boy Mark had come to respect and love. In retrospect, Mark wonders if he had always been modeling his ideal type after his childhood friend.

Mark hadn’t always been an insomniac. He remembers how the older boy’s touch felt as he had stroked Mark’s hair, even fanning Mark with a faded paper fold-up fan in the hot summer nights. Combined with the feather light touches on his forehead and the deep rumbling whispers of bedtime tales and ramblings, Mark had never found it difficult to fall asleep. Not when his next door hyung was nearby.

_ But what had been his name? _

This is where his dreams get fuzzy. The edges of his mind’s encounter fade away and reveal a nothingness - a hole in the void of his memories. Mark wakes up with a wistfulness he can never satisfy and once again, he gets out of bed, bleary-eyed and wanting.

  
  
  
  


%%%

  
  
  
  


“Oh man” the skinny boy in front of him says. “ _ You’re _ the one replacing Johnny?”

The gorgeous boy with the shocking blue hair stares at him, sizing him up and down until his piercing gaze lands right on Mark’s eyes.

“Uh, I haven’t auditioned yet though” Mark says lamely.

The boy gives a low whistle.

“You’re cute and all, but you’re gonna have to step up your game if-”

“That’s enough Taeyong hyung” Jaehyun interrupts.

Mark gulps at Jaehyun’s entrance because  _ damn _ , Jaehyun sunbae looks fine as hell in those hip hugging, distressed black skinny jeans and that oversized, heather gray knitted sweater with strategically placed gaps in the yarn. Mark stifles a dreamy little sigh and buries his face in the audition script.

The two sunbaes, Jaehyun and Taeyong, are talking amongst themselves and it takes Mark a great deal of willpower not to keep sneaking looks at how great Jaehyun looks with his fluffy, unwaxed hairdo today. 

Just last night, after pounding on Donghyuck for pushing him into that situation when he wasn’t fully caffeinated, Donghyuck had confided that there had been hundreds of applicants.

“Some didn’t even get a form!” Donghyuck had gossiped eagerly.

“So why me?”

“Why indeed?” That had been followed by Donghyuck’s infamous eyebrow waggle that had Mark rolling his eyes.

“I mean, sure, I’m a long time listener and maybe that gets me some points but-”

“He doesn’t know you’re a listener, Mark” Donghyuck had said pointedly.

“Then why-”

“Why indeed?” A perfectly caramel colored eyebrow had waggled.

“Stop.”

“Why indeed, Mark. Why do you think the  _ gorgeous  _ Jaehyun sunbae took one look at your adorably derpy morning face and handed you the form?” This time, both eyebrows had waggled at Mark.

“STAP” Mark had pushed Donghyuck’s shoulder, forcing him out of their room so Mark could think (and change) in peace.

But now, in the broadcasting club room, that’s all Mark can think about as he waits his turn to go into the booth for his test run. 

_ Why me? _

The same script that Mark has in his hands is also in Jaehyun sunbae’s hands. His beautifully, large, long fingered-

“Hey.”

Mark blinks then looks up. It’s that weird but intimidating blue-haired sunbae again.

“I  _ said _ you can go in now. Jaehyun’s waiting for you.”

Mark swallows hard and grips the papers in his hands a little too hard. The edges of the papers crumple in Mark’s fists and Taeyong sunbae narrows his eyes.

“You’re not gonna… do anything weird are you?” Taeyong asks, taking a seat in front of the soundboard. “Because even though some of the equipment is old, it’s still our stuff and if you start vomiting all over the mic, you’re gonna be the one who-”

“Hyung” a voice comes over the sound system from the broadcast booth.

Mark’s eyes go round as saucers as he looks at Jaehyun across the wall of glass. He looks a little tired and harassed and Mark wonders if it’s because Mark’s being such a dweeb about this whole thing with his little crush and inarticulate way with words. 

“Stop torturing the poor kid and just let Minhyung in.”

“Alright, alright” Taeyong mumbles. “What a way to play favorites.”

Mark doesn’t catch the last part of Taeyong’s grumblings because  _ wow _ , did Jaehyun sunbae just call him  _ Minhyung _ ?

Just like that Mark reverts back to his derpy, head-over-heels-for-my-crush form, stumbling like a freshly awoken zombie as he pushes open the door to the radio booth. His mind goes blank as he breathes in. The room smells like Jaehyun sunbae’s cologne and Mark’s head is reeling.

The black printed words on the audition script start to look like gibberish and Mark just knows he’s going to tank this audition hard and heavy.  _ But does it really matter? _ Because Jaehyun sunbae just called him  _ Minhyung  _ \- Mark’s Korean name - and he’s finally realizing why Jaehyun’s hands look ever-so familiar.

“Hyung” Mark manages to squeak out, sitting down next to his lifelong ideal type.

But right as Jaehyun looks at him with those deep, soulful eyes of his, Taeyong barks across the sound system.

“On air in five, four, three…”


End file.
